For updates on Liquid Mechanics, find it on Facebook at Liquid Mechanics Brewing.

East Boulder County craft beer drinkers will have two more locations to wet their whistles by the summer's end.

Construction is in full swing at Echo Brewing Company's Erie location and Liquid Mechanics Brewing Company in Lafayette. Both breweries tentatively plan on late summer openings.

The new watering holes will perpetuate the recent spate of brewery openings in the east side of the county.

In the past two years, Louisville has welcomed Gravity Brewing Co., Twelve Degree Brewing and Crystal Spring Brewing Co. During that same time period, Front Range Brewing Co., Odd 13 Brewing and The Post Brewing Co. all opened in Lafayette.

Brothers Dennis and Daniel Richard of Erie opened their first Echo Brewing location in Frederick two years ago. Their hometown expansion should be complete by the end of July, Echo general manager Scott Poepard said.

Echo marks the third brewing operation to land in downtown Erie, following in the recent footsteps of Industrial Revolution Brewing Company and The Old Mine Cidery and Brewpub.

"We'll all be within walking distance of one another. It's going to be great for downtown Erie," Poepard said.

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Echo took over Erie's historic fire station building at 600 Briggs St., which more recently served as the home to the Arts Center of Erie.

Echo plans to open an upscale pizza restaurant in the same building as its seven-barrel brewing operation. Echo's Erie brewing facility will almost mirror the original Frederick site, Poepard said.

But the opening of an Erie location holds special meaning for the Richards family, all of whom reside in town.

Construction worker Nolan Kaine works on the future bar at Liquid Mechanics Brewing Company in Lafayette. The brewery is set to open in late summer on the southwest corner of U.S. 287 and Baseline Road. (Doug Pike / Colorado Hometown Weekly)

"This was just the right location. The family is from here and the city has been so helpful," Poepard said. "The town has been giving us nothing but support and love."

Once complete, "Echo Erie" will feature roughly 1,600 square feet of indoor dining space, as well as patios on the south and east sides of the building, and a beer garden complete with cornhole boards to the north.

The patio tables already are out at Liquid Mechanics in Lafayette, which took over the former Fitness 19 site at the southwest corner of U.S. 287 and Baseline Road.

The brewery is owned and operated by the trio of Seth Townsend, Eric Briggs and Davin Helden — all former coworkers at Amgen.

"It's been since 2008 that we've been kicking this idea around. We all left Amgen a few years back, whether we were let go or left on our own," Townsend said. "We just realized that every job has a lifespan."

Much of the lab work in the pharmaceutical industry translates well to brewing, Briggs said.

Liquid Mechanics will run on a 10-barrel assembly, focusing on three beer genres — Belgian, American and German — with a one-barrel system for "funky small-batch beers," Briggs said. The brewhouse will be visible and spotlit in the building's 10-foot high windows in its northwest corner.

Visibility, not just for the brewing equipment, was a key factor in choosing a location for the brewery, Townsend said.

"When we first started looking around, we triangulated all the breweries in the area and this part of Lafayette still had room," Townsend said. "We're the only brewery in town west of 287. We wanted a highly visible location, and 45,000 cars a day come through (the U.S. 287/Baseline) intersection."

Liquid Mechanics won't serve food, but plans to invite food trucks.

Inside, the taproom will seat 85, with room for 48 on the patio. The space will feature a small performance stage, with plenty of exposed metal and wood — including a drop ceiling made of pallets, harkening to the early days of informal brewing.

"It's bright and airy in here, which kind of reflects the Colorado lifestyle," Townsend said. "We want it to be a place where you can come and relax and hang out, and come back a couple of days later."

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